ON BEING A GRANDMOTHER

There have been women in my life who have been grandmothers and all of them have bubbled with joy about the experience. I always wondered what made them remark about this experience as opposed to the wonder of having one's own child. Now I know! Sam is at that stage where he grins all the time and coos sweet little sounds and melts my heart. When he was born I thought he looked just like his mother. Now I think he has the shape of his mother's eyes, but looks much more like his dad. Every once in a while I see a resemblance of many different family members and I personally find joy in seeing this. Before Sam was born I thought that I would most want him to look just like his mother, but seeing all of the different "faces" in his face is like seeing a family photo in one face.

This feeling of family and connectedness from generations past to present overwhelms me sometimes. I'm a bit (well, truthfully a lot) nostalgic. I have the watch that belonged to my great great great grandmother. It has been passed from mother to daughter for that many generations and it still ticks! It is as if it is really time being passed from one generation to the next.

So, as I write this tonight, I am saying to anyone who might be or who might become a grandparent that the experience is like one you can never imagine until it belongs to you. Thanks Sam for making me your Maemae.